Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Ohms Law Low-current Calibration System for Ionization Chambers

Published

Author(s)

Dean G. Jarrett, Shamith U. Payagala, Ryan P. Fitzgerald, Denis E. Bergeron, Jeffrey T. Cessna, Charles J. Waduwarage Perera, Neil M. Zimmerman

Abstract

A system for the calibration of electrometers that measure currents from ionization chambers is described. The calibration system uses a 1 GΩ standard resistor in series with a stable voltage source to generate calibration currents from 1 pA to 20 nA, traceable to quantum voltage and resistance standards through an 8-1/2 digit digital voltmeter and the standard resistor. Expanded uncertainties (k = 2) of 100 x 10-6 or better for the calibration of the electrometer is needed for the ionization chamber measurements. The electrometer calibration was verified by current measurements following the decay of the short-lived radionuclide 18F in a re-entrant ionization chamber.
Proceedings Title
2020 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements(CPEM 2020)
Conference Dates
August 24-28, 2020
Conference Location
Denver, CO

Keywords

electrometer, ionization chamber, quantum electrical standards, standard resistor, small current measurement

Citation

Jarrett, D. , Payagala, S. , Fitzgerald, R. , Bergeron, D. , Cessna, J. , Waduwarage, C. and Zimmerman, N. (2020), Ohms Law Low-current Calibration System for Ionization Chambers, 2020 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements(CPEM 2020), Denver, CO (Accessed December 9, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created August 23, 2020, Updated September 1, 2020